Another month means another review of the major social media updates that have rolled out.

I know it's hard to try and keep up with the endless updates, and understand which ones really matter, and what they mean for us. I've rounded up the key updates that I believe us as business owners need to know. Take a read, and if I've missed one that you think it important, please do add in the comments.

Facebook

Advertising to family members

Using information such as who you list as family on Facebook, along with things like shared checkins and internet usage information, it will be possible for Facebook ads to be targeted at family groups.

Household marketing will work in three ways:

1. If your family is planning a trip, a hotel may start displaying ads to everyone in the family.

2. If your son wants a new speaker system, rather than advertising to him, brands can show the ad on Facebook to his parents.

3. To avoid 'wasting' advertising, if a product is already owned by a household - such as a Netflix subscription - the brand can stop their ads showing to other family members.

I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into something like:

A wife is looking at a new perfume online. She has visited the website a couple of times lusting after the fragrance. Facebook knows it is a special anniversary coming up for Lisa and her husband John. The next time John logs onto Facebook, he sees ads following him around saying 'Treat Lisa to her favourite perfume for your 10 year anniversary. Order now to arrive before the special day', with a link to purchase the product.

Clever? Yes. Creepy - of course, it's Facebook!

Businesses now notified about recommendations

As you may have seen, 'Recommendations' on Facebook are pretty popular since launching. However, a new update means that brands will now start seeing the number of times their page has been recommended. This is really important to help us manage our brand by seeing who is mentioning it and being able to respond.

Instagram

Tags to indicate paid partnerships

Instagram users will spot a new 'Paid partnership with' tag under usernames on sponsored posts as this new influencer feature rolls out. This feature it designed to make it easy to see if the post is sponsored, without viewing hashtags, where this information was traditionally put.

I think this is a MAJOR win for brands, because when the influencer uses this new tag, brands will be able to see the reach and engagement metrics in their Facebook Page Insights and effectively measure results of the partnership.

I will let you know when Instagram launches it official policy and enforcement of paid partnerships.

Archive posts

'Archive' is a new feature on Instagram that lets you move posts you’ve previously shared into a space that’s visible only to you. To archive a post you’ve already shared, tap “…” at the top of the post and choose “Archive.”

This is great to 'clear up' our feed or if we want to see what our feed would look like without a certain post but aren't brave enough to delete it.

However I believe this feature could be a risk to brands who have paid influencers to post for them. This feature allows influencer to effectively 'hide' posts but 'bring them back' if questioned. If you are working with an influencer to post for your brand, ensure to specify a duration the post must be live for.

If you need help with your social media strategy, get in touch via emily@goodmediaco.com.au. I'd love to help you understand what content to create and how to roll it out to create a community around your business.